MIDDLESEX COUNTY — The Middlesex County Board of Freeholders has appointed the county’s assistant comptroller to replace James Phillips, the longtime county treasurer who died last week from complications due to diabetes.

Giuseppe “Joe” Pruiti, 49, now the county treasurer and chief financial officer, replaces both Phillips and Albert Kuschinskas, 76, who retired in December after serving as comptroller since July 1967.

Pruiti began working for the county in June 1989 and served as assistant under Kuschinskas.

Kuschinskas was honored Dec. 19, 2013 by the freeholder board and given a special resolution of recognition, according to Stacey Bersani, the county spokeswoman.

Phillips, 60, died Jan. 31, at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Newark, not too far where he served as county treasurer. He took that job after serving as a freeholder from 1990 to 1995.

Phillips also served as a state senator in the early 1990’s and, in 2003, won his first term as mayor of Old Bridge, where he was a lifelong resident. He resigned as mayor in 2011 due to health issues.